Bridgeport Harbor Station

Bridgeport Harbor Station is a coal-fired power station owned and operated by Public Service Enterprise Group near Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Plant Data

 * Owner: Public Service Electricity & Gas Connecticut LLC
 * Parent Company: Public Service Enterprise Group (owned by Exelon)
 * Plant Nameplate Capacity: 400 MW (Megawatts)
 * Units and In-Service Dates: 400 MW (1968)
 * Location: 10 Atlantic St., Bridgeport, CT 06604
 * GPS Coordinates: 41.168333, -73.185
 * Coal Consumption:
 * Coal Source:
 * Number of Employees:

Emissions Data

 * 2006 CO2 Emissions: 3,272,693 tons
 * 2006 SO2 Emissions: 2,885 tons
 * 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
 * 2006 NOx Emissions: 2,177 tons
 * 2005 Mercury Emissions: 54 lb.

Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Bridgeport Harbor Station
In 2010, Abt Associates issued a study commissioned by the Clean Air Task Force, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization, quantifying the deaths and other health effects attributable to fine particle pollution from coal-fired power plants. Fine particle pollution consists of a complex mixture of soot, heavy metals, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides. Among these particles, the most dangerous are those less than 2.5 microns in diameter, which are so tiny that they can evade the lung's natural defenses, enter the bloodstream, and be transported to vital organs. Impacts are especially severe among the elderly, children, and those with respiratory disease. The study found that over 13,000 deaths and tens of thousands of cases of chronic bronchitis, acute bronchitis, asthma, congestive heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, dysrhythmia, ischemic heart disease, chronic lung disease, and pneumonia each year are attributable to fine particle pollution from U.S. coal plant emissions. These deaths and illnesses are major examples of coal's external costs, i.e. uncompensated harms inflicted upon the public at large. Low-income and minority populations are disproportionately impacted as well, due to the tendency of companies to avoid locating power plants upwind of affluent communities. To monetize the health impact of fine particle pollution from each coal plant, Abt assigned a value of $7,300,000 to each 2010 mortality, based on a range of government and private studies. Valuations of illnesses ranged from $52 for an asthma episode to $440,000 for a case of chronic bronchitis.

Table 1: Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Bridgeport Harbor Station
Source: "Find Your Risk from Power Plant Pollution," Clean Air Task Force interactive table, accessed March 2011

Coal Sources
The 997,370 tons of coal burned at the Bridgeport Harbor plant in Fairfield was imported from the strip mines of Indonesia's East Kalimantan region.

According to iLoveMountains.org, Bridgeport Harbor purchases some coal from companies who practice mountaintop removal mining (MTR), though does not burn coal directly from MTR mines.

NAACP Clearing the Air Road Tour - April 2010
In April 2010, Jacqui Patterson of the NAACP Climate Justice interviewed community members in Bridgeport. Jacqui wrote the following account of the impacts of the Bridgeport Harbor Station:
 * Bridgeport is the second-poorest city in Connecticut after Hartford, with a per capita income just over half of the state average. The plant is wedged between Bridgeport’s Downtown and South End neighborhoods, which are among the city’s poorest. The average income of people who live within one mile of the plant is just $11,400, and over 87% of the plant’s neighbors are people of color. Six schools are within a mile of the plant, as is the University of Bridgeport (the tenth-most racially diverse university in the country, with over 60% students of color).


 * The stories in Bridgeport solidified a pattern that has been consistent throughout the trip including high rates of respiratory illnesses, nuisance coal ash, and disproportionate exposure by low income communities of color.


 * I had the pleasure of meeting with Adrienne, who is administering a training program for green jobs, Audrey whose job in the public health department has and her lifelong residency in Bridgeport have shown the impact of the coal plant on the community, and Craig who has spent the majority of his 59 years in Bridgeport and was able to provide a tour of the neighborhood surrounding the plant.


 * As we started our tour at the plant, we weren’t able to begin our filming in front of the plant because we were run off by security who stated that filming in front of the plant was a felony offense by order of the department of Homeland Security! During the tour you’ll see on the footage several times where I filmed the plant from afar, including a bit where I filmed the largest mountain of coal I’ve seen yet in all my visits to coal plants. And it is completely uncovered, which is why even now I have coal dust on my car. Craig, who narrated our tour, omitted any indication of filming of the plant when I was doing it, seemingly out of fear that he might be implicated by my lawlessness so watch for the coal mountain because it won’t be mentioned!


 * Adrienne shared some history of the South End community, where the plant is located, and talked about concerns that have been expressed by residents bout coal soot covering their cars, not being able to open their windows, and not being able to hang out laundry because of the coal ash.

Greenpeace protest
On Feb. 17, 2011, Greenpeace activists scaled the Bridgeport Harbor coal plant and unfurled a 20 X 40 ft banner with the message "Shut it Down: Quit Coal." The event marked the first major action of Greenpeace's 'Quit Coal' campaign, which seeks to highlight the devastating consequences of continuing to rely on the fossil fuel in the United States. According to Greenpeace, the Bridgeport Harbor plant is an old, polluting coal plant that is no longer necessary to provide power to the Connecticut grid, and should be shut down to mitigate the worst effects of global climate change.

Police cut the banner down, and at least five activists were reportedly arrested for their connection with the event.

2011 Report: Bridgeport top environmental justice offender
The 2011 report, "Coal Blooded: Putting Profits Before People in Illinois" by Adrian Wilson, NAACP, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO), and the Indigenous Environmental Network used an algorithm combining levels of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions together with demographic factors in order to calculate an environmental justice score for the 431 coal-fired power plants in the U.S. Twelve plants were ranked the top environmental justice offenders, producing a total of 48,582 Gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity in 2005 — only 1.2% of total U.S. electricity production, yet affecting a total of 1.78 million Americans who live within 3 miles of one of the 12 plants, with an average per capita income of $14,626 (compared with the U.S. average of $21,587), and 76.3% people of color.

The plants were:
 * 1) Crawford Generating Station, Chicago, IL (Edison International)
 * 2) Hudson Generating Station, Jersey City, NJ (PSEG)
 * 3) Fisk Generating Station, Chicago, IL (Edison International)
 * 4) Valley Power Plant, Milwaukee, WI (Wisconsin Energy)
 * 5) State Line Plant, Hammond, IN (Dominion)
 * 6) Lake Shore Plant, Cleveland, OH (FirstEnergy)
 * 7) Gallagher Generating Station, New Albany, IN (Duke Energy)
 * 8) Bridgeport Harbor Station, Bridgeport, CT (PSEG)
 * 9) River Rouge Power Plant, River Rouge, MI (DTE Energy)
 * 10) Cherokee Station, Commerce City, CO (Xcel Energy)
 * 11) Four Corners Steam Plant, Niinahnízaad, NM (Arizona Public Service Company)
 * 12) Waukegan Generating Station, Waukegan, IL (Edison International)

Citizen Groups

 * National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
 * Greenpeace

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * Existing U.S. Coal Plants
 * Connecticut and coal
 * Public Service Enterprise Group
 * United States and coal
 * Global warming

External Articles

 * "Day IX Clearing th eAir Road Tour - Bridgeport, CT - Bridgeport Harbor Generating Station," NAACP Climate Justice Initiative, April 24, 2010